


Fall of the Snake King

by SalineCoelacanth



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: F/M, M/M, OC X CANON, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalineCoelacanth/pseuds/SalineCoelacanth
Summary: Ninjago has been at peace for a while now, but an ancient evil is brought back, bringing danger to the entire realm. The ninja must stop the ancient snake king before all of Ninjago is destroyed while also having to deal with each other.Takes place between season 6 and DotD
Relationships: Cole/Jay Walker
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	1. A Mysterious Signal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fall of Djinnjago, the ninja go to discover a strange signal that's moving throughout the city.

Everything was being destroyed. The ground around everyone crumbled and buildings fell as the world quaked. Every djinn panicked as their realm fell apart.

“Mother!?” a female djinn cried out. “Mother, where are you!?”

“Asashi!”

The djinn turned around to see her mother in the distance. She quickly poofed away in a puff of orange smoke, teleporting to her mother. 

“Mother!” Asashi said again, slightly out of breath.

“Asashi, save your power,” Afi said, hugging her daughter.

The two djinns looked around at their home falling. 

“What is happening?” Asashi questioned.

“The Cursed Realm has been destroyed,” Afi said. “Our home, Djinnjago, can no longer exist without it.”

Asashi looked at her mother. “We have to escape!”

Afi shook her head. “We don’t have enough time, Asashi.”

The ground beneath the two djinns started to crumble. Afi grabbed her daughter and teleported away with her to a safer place. They appeared in a temple. Afi quickly floated over to a chest in the corner.

“Mother, we cannot stay in the family temple!” Asashi argued. “No place in Djinnjago is safe!”

“I know,” Afi replied, looking through the chest.

“What are you looking for?”

Afi didn’t respond. Asashi looked around again as the temple began to shake. Finally, Afi pulled out a ruby. It’s luster was as bright as a star and it began shining brighter as Afi held it.

“Asashi,” Afi said, “Djinnjago is no longer safe. I don’t know what will become of the djinns, but I want to make sure that you will be safe.”

“Mother, what are you-”

Asashi was interrupted as the stone began to glow a blinding light. Afi fell to the ground as the stone drained her power.

“Mother!” Asashi screamed. A chunk of the roof fell onto the ground.

“Asashi…” Afi spoke. A portal began to form in the temple. “Asashi, you’ll be safe in this realm,” she assured.

“Mother, no!” Asashi yelled. “I can’t leave you here!”

Afi looked up, a small tear falling from her eye. “I love you, my sweet daughter.”

Asashi stared at her weak mother on the ground. The temple began to shake once more, another piece of roof began to fall towards Afi.

“MOTHER!” Asashi tried to run to her mother, but Afi quickly used the last power of the stone to blast Asashi through the portal. “MOTHER!” Asashi cried again as the portal closed.

Asashi fell onto unfamiliar ground with a rough landing. She quickly sat up and looked around at the starry sky above her, tears still falling down her cheeks. She was sitting in a grassland with no one else nearby. She looked around frantically before noticing bright lights in the distance. She couldn’t exactly tell what she was looking at. Asashi wiped her eyes before standing up. 

“I don’t know where I am…” she whispered. “But I might as well try and figure out what kind of realm this is.”

______________________________________________

Destiny’s bounty was anchored somewhere near the city. Now that things had started to calm down with all of their fans, the ninja didn’t have to worry too much about being spotted and bombarded with cameras and asks for autographs. 

The ninja were all doing their usual training routine, practicing fighting against each other as well as fighting against the training equipment they had on the bounty. Jay was sitting to the side, not taking part in the training. He watched everyone else practicing their moves, lost in his own world. Everything felt weird to him. He remembered what happened. He remembered all of the damage Nadakhan had done to Ninjago. But everyone else didn’t. They all carried on like nothing had happened. Well, except for Nya. Jay shook his head. He hated thinking about that. Sure, he had finally moved on from Nya, but seeing her dead body didn’t hurt any less. Jay jumped as he felt someone touch his shoulder.

“Hey, Jay,” Nya greeted.

Jay looked back at the water ninja. “Oh, h-hey Nya,” he greeted back.

Nya took a seat next to him. “You still thinking about everything?”

Jay let out a sigh. “Yeah…” He looked back at the others. “I know we should tell them. You know, just in case something happens. But…”

“You don’t know how to tell them?”

“Where would I even start?” Jay questioned. “I can’t just tell them, ‘Hey guys! So we just went on a deadly adventure to fight off a djinn and his group of sky pirates, but I erased all of that from happening and Nya and I are the only ones who remember!’ They’ll think I’m crazy!”

“I get what you mean,” Nya agreed. “I still find some things… hard… to talk about…”

“Me too…”

The two of them went quiet until the others called over to them.

“Hey!” Kai called. “You guys gonna come join us or what?”

“Yeah, hold on!” Nya replied. “C’mon, we’d better get some training in.”

“You go ahead,” Jay said. “I still need a moment.”

Nya gave him a skeptical look but said nothing. She sighed quietly before walking over to join the others, grabbing a sword to practice with. Jay continued to watch them, at first watching Nya, but his gaze quickly shifted over to Cole. He gave a soft smile as he watched the ghost. Out of everyone, he wished he could talk to Cole about what happened the most. He felt like he and Cole went through a lot during that time, but Cole doesn’t remember any of it. Jay was stopped from his thoughts as Cole noticed the blue ninja staring at him.

“Jay? You ok?” he asked.

“Uh- I-I’m fine!” Jay assured, taken off guard. He quickly got up. “I was just thinking of different practice strategies.”

“Heh, alright,” Cole laughed. “How about trying some of them out then?”

“You’re on,” Jay accepted. He grabbed a practice katana and got into a battle stance against Cole. 

The two ninja stood still for a moment before Jay started to swing his sword towards Cole. Cole quickly blocked it with his own sword. They continued like this until Jay managed to get behind Cole and attempted to attack him from behind, but his sword just went straight through him. Cole froze for a moment before turning around.

“Heh, you got me,” he said awkwardly.

“Yeah,” Jay agreed, rubbing the back of his head. “I know you’ve been a ghost for a long time now, but I’m still not used to it…”

“Neither am I,” Cole agreed. Cole turned around, holding onto his arm as the reminder of his current state settled in. Jay held out a hand to comfort Cole, but he was interrupted as the computer alerted the ninja. They all turned their attention to the main computer, running towards it to see what was going on.

“What is it?” Kai asked.

Zane started typing on the computer to see what the signal was picking up. “It seems that a strange energy signal is being picked up throughout Ninjago City,” he explained. “We should go and investigate.”

“Is it a villain?” Lloyd asked.

“I’m not sure,” Zane replied. “But it would be best not to leave this unchecked.”

“Alright, let’s go to Ninjago City then,” Kai agreed.

Zane nodded and started to get the bounty prepared to head towards the city.

The ninja arrived in the city and quickly climbed down from the bounty and started looking around. 

“So, this is where that strange signal was coming from?” Lloyd questioned.

“It  _ was  _ here,” Zane said, reading his tracker. “The signal seems to have moved.”

“I really hope this isn’t anything too intense,” Jay complained. “I don’t wanna have to deal with another villain right now.”

“But Jay, we haven’t had to deal with a villain in a while,” Lloyd reminded. 

“Oh, yeah,” Jay replied, remembering that the stuff with Nadakhan didn’t happen.

“The signal is coming from this way,” Zane informed, pointing down the street.

“Well then, let’s go find it,” Kai replied.

They all started running down the street, appearing to be getting closer to whatever was making these weird signals, but suddenly, the signal stopped.

“What?” Zane questioned, still looking at the tracker.

“Wasn’t the signal coming from here?” Cole asked. “There’s nothing here!”

“The signal stopped again,” Zane explained.

“Are you sure there’s actually something going on?” Kai questioned. “Maybe the tracker is broken.”

“Wait, the signal is coming back,” Zane replied.

“Where is it now?” Nya asked, looking over Zane’s shoulder.

“It appears to be coming from the other side of the city.”

“What!?” Jay yelled. “How is it at the other side of the city!?”

“Hey guys, come look at this,” Lloyd called over.

Everyone looked over at Lloyd and walked over to see what he was looking at. Lloyd pointed at the ground.

“Someone left footprints here,” he said. “They must’ve walked through a puddle or something.”

“Then we can just follow these footsteps,” Cole said.

“Hey, it beats following a broken tracker,” Kai agreed.

“Kai, the tracker is not broken,” Zane argued.

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Kai brushed him off. “C’mon, let’s follow these footprints!”

The ninja started to follow the path of the footsteps, hoping to finally find whatever was making this signal. They kept following until suddenly, the footprints stopped.

“What the?” Lloyd questioned.

“Maybe their feet got clean?” Jay suggested.

“No, if that happened, then we’d see the footprints disappear gradually,” Nya pointed out. “These footprints just stopped abruptly.”

The ninja looked around to try and see if they could find anything suspicious, but they saw nothing. They looked over at the people walking down the streets.

“Hey, maybe they saw something,” Jay suggested.

“Maybe,” Lloyd agreed. He walked over to some people sitting on a nearby bench. “Excuse me,” he said, “have you guys noticed anything strange around here?”

“Maybe a person walking around?” Kai added.

“Oh, yeah,” one of them replied. “We saw this strange looking lady walking around, but then she just suddenly poofed away.”

“What do you mean, ‘poofed away’?” Nya asked.

“She just disappeared,” the other person replied. “She was there, but then suddenly, she was gone.”

“That would explain why the signal keeps moving suddenly,” Zane said.

“Thanks for the help,” Lloyd said.

“No problem, ninja.”

The ninja started walking away, looking back at the tracker.

“So, where is this mystery lady now?” Kai asked.

They all looked at the tracker. Suddenly, the signal disappeared again. After a couple of seconds, it appeared again near the outskirts of the city.

“Hey, that’s close by,” Cole pointed out. “If we hurry, we can probably get there before the signal disappears again.”

The ninja all looked at each other and nodded before running towards the signal. Zane kept looking at the tracker just in case the signal moved again. They eventually reached the outskirts of the city and noticed some more footprints, indicating they were heading in the right direction. They all slowed down as they reached the area the signal was coming from.

“Did the signal move again?” Cole asked.

“No,” Zane replied, “this should be the correct location.”

“What’s that?”

The ninja all jumped as they heard an unfamiliar voice. They turned around to see a lady floating behind them. She had long black hair in a ponytail, and the lower half of her body was an orange smoke.

“WHAH!” Jay screamed. “A-a djinn!”

“A what?” Kai questioned.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the djinn apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” The orange smoke of her lower half disappeared as a pair of legs formed, wearing puffy blue pants.

Zane looked down at the tracker and then back at the djinn. “The signal is coming from her,” he confirmed.

“Probably because she’s an evil djinn!” Jay yelled. “Everyone be careful! We cannot trust her!”

The djinn giggled. “You’re quiet the jumpy one, aren’t you?” Jay glared at her, but she didn’t seem phased by it. “My name is Asashi. I come from a distant realm called Djinnjago. I’m sorry if I caused any of you trouble.”

“Djinnjago?” Kai questioned.

“Yes,” Asashi replied. “Djinjago was my home realm, but it was destroyed. I was sent here by my mother, but I still don’t know exactly what this place is.”

“Well, this is Ninjago,” Lloyd explained. “We’re the ninja, and we kinda protect this place whenever evil shows up.”

“The ninja?” Asashi questioned. She smiled. “It’s very nice to meet all of you!”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Asashi,” Nya replied.

“Do you all have names, or are you all just ‘the ninja’?” Asashi asked.

“I’m Lloyd,” Lloyd introduced, “and these are Kai, Zane, Cole, Nya and Jay.”

“Don’t tell her our names!” Jay yelled.

“Jay, calm down,” Cole said. “She’s not hurting anyone.”

Jay looked over at Nya. “Help me out here, Nya!”

Nya looked at Jay and then at Asashi. She looked back at Jay and gave a slight shrug. “She seems harmless.”

“Oh come on!” Jay replied. “She’s a djinn!”

“Jay, we don’t even know anything about djinns,” Lloyd said. “Why do you automatically think she’s evil?”

“I-” Jay paused. He looked back at Asashi. The djinn was looking around curiously. He turned back to the others. “I just have a bad feeling about her. You guys have to trust me on this one.”

“Jay, I think you’re being a little too paranoid,” Lloyd said.

“I’m not paranoid!” Jay shouted.

“That’s usually what people say when they’re paranoid,” Kai interjected. 

“C’mon, give him a break,” Nya stepped in. “Jay has his reasons for being so paranoid.”

“What kind of reasons?” Kai asked.

“Just… reasons, ok?” Nya replied, not knowing what to say. 

“Well, I guess if Asashi isn’t causing any trouble,” Lloyd said, “we can probably head back to the bounty.”

“What!? We’re just gonna let her wander around!?” Jay yelled.

“She’s not causing any problems, Jay,” Lloyd argued. “Let’s just head back.”

“Wait, but-”

“Jay,” Cole put his hand on Jay’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine.”

Jay let out a sigh. “Fine,” he grumbled.

The ninja started to walk away, Asashi waving at them. “It was nice to meet all of you!” she cheered as they left. As the ninja started leaving, Asashi started to look around more. This was going to be her new home, so she wanted to explore it as much as she could. She decided to teleport again to a new location. 

She stumbled slightly as she appeared in the new location. This area was much drier than her previous location. Everything was covered in sand. She looked around until she noticed a large rock in the distance. The rock seemed to resemble a large fang, which only intrigued Asashi more. She started walking closer towards it. As she got closer, she began to notice a hole in the rock, leading to a cave. Asashi stopped for a moment before continuing towards the mysterious cave. She entered the dark cave and looked around at all of the rocks and old bones laying around. This was definitely far different from everywhere else she had been to in Ninjago. 

Asashi continued to wander around the cave, looking at the skeletons that littered the place. She didn’t recognize the type of creature, but she still felt pity for whatever had died here. She heard a quiet noise and quickly turned around to see what it was, but she saw nothing. She looked around nervously before going back to her exploring. She continued to look around the cave and noticed a pile of rocks. She went over to investigate and noticed some of them were precious gemstones, while others were simply cool looking rocks. Asashi heard nother noise, this one much louder. She turned around, but again saw nothing.

“Is someone here?” she asked, her voice echoing in the quiet cave.

Asashi heard a quiet hissing noise.

“I assure you, I mean you no harm,” she continued. 

Suddenly, someone started to appear in front of Asashi, slowly turning visible. Asashi looked up at the tall creature in front of her. He was covered in purple and white scales and had vibrant red eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness of the cave.

“What are you doing here!?” he hissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boi it's my first fic that isn't an au (although I guess it's technically an au because it's an alternate universe where my oc exists) but that's besides the point! I've been excited to post this fic for a while, and since I've had the first four chapters written for a while, I figured I'd post them. Whether or not I get back to writing this, I don't know, it depends on my motivation I guess.


	2. The Wanderer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asashi continues to wander around this new realm while making some new friends along the way

“I still don’t understand why we just let her wander around,” Jay complained when they got back to the bounty.

“And I don’t understand why you’re so paranoid,” Cole teased.

“For the last time, I’m not paranoid!” Jay yelled. He let out an annoyed sigh as the others laughed at him. “Whatever, I’m gonna go sit down.” Jay walked away as everyone else stayed on the main deck.

“So, was your search a success?” The ninja all turned as Master Wu walked up to them.

“Oh, Master Wu,” Lloyd greeted. “Yeah, turns out it was a djinn who was just wandering around.”

“A djinn?” Wu questioned, slight concern in voice.

“Don’t worry, Master,” Kai assured, “she was harmless.”

“I see,” Wu responded. “So, she didn’t cause any trouble?”

“No,” Kai replied.

“Hmm,” Wu nodded. “Jay seemed to be quite upset. Is he ok?”

“Don’t worry about him,” Cole said. “He’s just being paranoid for no reason.”

“Again, he isn’t paranoid for no reason,” Nya stepped in.

“Well he hasn’t told us a reason,” Kai argued. “In fact, Jay’s just been acting weird lately. Like there’s something he’s hiding.”

“Just give him a break!” Nya snapped, unexpectedly. 

Everyone went quiet, looking at Nya in surprise. 

Nya let out a sigh. “I’m sure he just has a lot on his mind.”

“Should we check up on him?” Cole asked.

“I don’t know,” Nya shrugged. “But I need a break from this too.”

Before the others could say anything else, Nya was already walking away. They all just looked at each other and shrugged.

______________________________________________

Asashi stared up at the snake standing in front of her in complete awe.

“I asked you a question!” Pythor hissed. “What are you doing here?”

“I-uh,” Asashi replied. She looked around the cave. “Is this your home?”

Pythor blinked in surprise. “Yes it is my home, why are you here!?”

“I just wandered in here,” Asashi explained. She started walking around the cave, looking at it more. “It seems quiet gloomy here,” she commented as she started to wander around the cave. “Do you live here alone?”

Pythor growled softly before slithering up to block Asashi. “You looked around, you can leave now.”

“Did you collect those rocks?” Asashi asked, pointing to the rock pile she found earlier.

“That’s none of your business!” Pythor yelled. “Would you just leave this place already!?”

Asashi walked past Pythor, continuing to look around the cave. “What about these skeletons?” she continued. “Were… were these your family?”

Pythor looked away. “I don’t have a family.”

“I see…” Asashi replied. “I lost my family, too.”

“That’s not what I-”

“I guess we’re both alone, huh?” Asashi said, turning back to look at Pythor. She gave him a soft smile.

Pythor rolled his eyes. “I’m not alone.”

“Oh, my apologies,” Asashi said. “I thought you lived here by yourself.”

“I- ugh!” Pythor grunted. “Why are you still here? I thought I told you to leave!”

“Oh, sorry,” Asashi apologized. “This place is just so beautiful.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Pythor questioned.

“I guess it just reminds me a bit of Djinnjago,”Asashi explained. “I’m foolish to have assumed that you lived here alone. Of course you’d have friends living here, too.”

Pythor gave Asashi a confused look. “You’re a very strange person.”

Asashi giggled. “I am new to this realm,” she said. “My name is Asashi. My home, Djinnjago, was destroyed. But my mother sent me here so I could survive.”

“Do you just tell your life story to strangers normally?” Pythor asked snarkily.

“Well, normally, no,” Asashi admitted. “But we don’t have to be strangers! We could be friends.”

Pythor rolled his eyes again. “I don’t do friends,” he explained.

Asashi blinked. “But, if you have no friends, then who else lives here?”

“Nobody else lived here!” Pythor snapped.

Asashi stopped for a moment. “O-oh…”

Pythor let out an annoyed sigh. “If you have no reason to be here, then leave.”

“Ok,” Asashi nodded. “It was nice to meet you, er-”

“You may call me Pythor,” he responded. “Pythor P. Chumsworth.”

Asashi smiled. “It was nice to meet you, Pythor!”

“Whatever,” Pythor replied. “Now, you were leaving, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Asashi remembered. She started to leave the cave, waving at Pythor before she went back into the desert.

______________________________________________

Asashi continued to wander around Ninjago, eventually arriving near a forest. She stopped and stared at all of the lush trees. She had never seen a place so green before. She looked up at the sky and noticed stars beginning to appear.

“It is late,” she whispered. She looked down letting out a sigh. “And I have nowhere to stay…”

“Now, now, what is someone doing all the way out here so late?”

Asashi turned around and saw a person walking up to her, wearing a dark purple cloak with many triangle symbols on it. They wore a hood, their light brown hair popping out of it. Asashi also noticed bright purple triangles under the person’s eyes.

“Hello,” Asashi greeted. “Who are you?”

“My name is Umbra,” the stranger introduced. “And you seem to be a djinn.”

Asashi blinked. “You know of my species?”

“Yes,” Umbra replied. “I know quite a lot about magical creatures. However, djinns are

not native to Ninjago. What are you doing in this realm?”

Asashi looked away. “My home was destroyed… I was sent here by my mother.”

“Oh,” Umbra replied. “I am sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright,” Asashi assured. “I’ve already met so many new friends here.”

“Oh? That’s very nice to hear.”

Asashi nodded. “I met this group of ninja,” she said. “They were very nice.”

“The ninja?” Umbra questioned. “The heroes of Ninjago?”

“Heroes?” Asashi asked.

“Yes, whenever Ninjago is in trouble, the ninja always save the day,” Umbra explained. “You’re quiet lucky to have become friends with them.”

Asashi smiled. “I’m sure they will be great friends.”

“Perhaps we could be friends as well,” Umbra suggested.

“I would appreciate that,” Asashi agreed.

Umbra smiled. “You’ve already talked about yourself, how about I talk about myself?”

Asashi nodded.

“As you know, my name is Umbra,” they explained. “I am but a humble sorcerer. I know a bit of magic myself.”

Umbra held up their hand, creating a small purple flame. Asashi stared at it in awe.

“Although, recently I’ve found myself interested in studying the serpentine.”

“Serpentine?” Asashi questioned.

“The serpentine are a species of snake-based creatures native to Ninjago,” Umbra explained. “There are five documented tribes, but it’s possible that more tribes exist beyond those five.”

“Snake creatures?” Asashi thought for a moment. “You mean like Pythor?”

Umbra blinked. “You know Pythor?”

“Yes,” Asashi replied. “He is also my friend. At least I think… He seemed lonely when I met him.” Asashi looked at Umbra. “Are you his friend? Because he told me that he has no friends.”

“Oh no, I’m not his friend,” Umbra replied. “To be honest, I don’t have many friends. But I believe talking to Pythor would be helpful to my research. Can you tell me where you met him?”

“Oh, he’s living in a cave off in the desert,” Asashi explained. “Although I would suggest visiting him tomorrow since it’s so late now.”

“I know,” Umbra replied. “I just needed to know where I would be able to find him. I have other things I need to attend to tomorrow as well.”

“You must be a very busy person,” Asashi said. 

“I have something big planned,” Umbra smiled. They turned around and started walking away. “I must be going,” they said. “Thank you for telling me about Pythor.”

Asashi waved goodbye. “You’re welcome,” she replied. Asashi turned around, looking at the forest again before taking a couple of steps into the forest.

______________________________________________

That night, the ninja were all sleeping except for Jay who got up to get a snack. He quietly left his bed and slowly made his way to the kitchen, not wanting to wake anyone up. He got to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He grabbed a small pudding cup and closed the door.

“What are you doing up so late?”

Jay jumped and turned around to see Cole standing in the doorway, although it was hard to see the ghost in the darkness.

“I was hungry,” Jay explained.

“Makes sense,” Cole replied, walking into the kitchen. “Considering you skipped dinner.”

“I wasn’t hungry then,” Jay said, putting a spoonful of pudding in his mouth.

Cole chuckled before smiling quietly at Jay. His smile slowly faded as he kept looking at the smaller ninja.

“Jay, what’s been going on with you?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Jay asked.

“You’ve been distant,” Cole explained. “And now this mysterious djinn shows up and you keep saying that she’s bad news. Nya keeps telling us you have your reasons, but then she doesn’t explain what that means.”

“Listen, Cole, I…” Jay hesitated. “I just can’t explain it, ok?”

Cole put his hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Jay, you can trust me,” Cole assured. “I’m your best friend.”

Jay stared at Cole. Cole had a soft smile on his face and his eyes felt warm despite their ghostly appearance. Jay pulled away from Cole.

“How do I know I can trust you?” he asked. “You’ll just think I’m crazy.”

“Jay, I already think you’re crazy,” Cole joked.

Jay let out a sigh. He turned away and put another spoonful of pudding in his mouth. “I’ve trusted people before and it backfired…”

“Jay, what are you talking about?”

“I get it that I was still in the wrong, but it still hurt!”

“Jay?”

Jay looked back at Cole. “Sorry, I’m rambling again.”

“C’mon, Jay, you can talk to me,” Cole assured again.

Jay finished eating his pudding cup and threw it into the trash. “I’m tired,” he dismissed, walking out of the kitchen. Cole watched Jay leave. He stood alone in the kitchen for a moment before sighing and following him back to the cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On one hand I feel bad for writing so much about my oc but on the other hand it's important to the plot so I shouldn't be too upset, especially since she isn't as big of a focus later on. I'm probably just having dumb anxiety about this and people don't actually care but what can you do. I'll probably post Chapters 3 and 4 in a couple of days, but I wanted to post the first two chapters because why not, also because this chapter was a little shorter.


	3. Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the ninja continue their relaxing, they get a visit from a mysterious sorcerer.

The ninja were taking some time to relax on the bounty. Other than meeting Asashi, they didn’t have anything to do since the city was at peace. Lloyd was on the main deck, watching the sky.

“Taking a break from training, I see,” Master Wu said as he approached the green ninja.

“Everything’s been quiet lately,” Lloyd explained. “I think it’s fair to take a short break.”

“Resting is important,” Wu agreed. “But remember that things are always quiet before disaster approaches.”

“We’ll be ready if anything happens,” Lloyd assured. “We’ve saved Ninjago time and time again. We’ll always be ready to fight any villain that shows up.”

Wu nodded. “I know you will.” Wu started to walk away. “Have you seen the others?” he asked before leaving.

“No,” Lloyd replied. “But I think they might be in the cabin.”

Wu nodded again before leaving again, heading towards his room. Lloyd turned his attention back to the sky. He stared up at it peacefully until he heard a noise. He looked down to see a person standing, looking up at the bounty.

Lloyd quickly let down the ladder and climbed down to see what this mysterious person wanted. They watched Lloyd climb down, making no attempt to move from their spot.

“Hello,” Lloyd greeted. “What brings you here?”

“Hello Lloyd Garmadon, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the stranger greeted. “My name is Umbra and I wish to speak with you.” They looked back up at the bounty. “Along with your teammates. If that isn’t too much trouble.”

“Not at all,” Lloyd assured. “Come onto the bounty. I’m sure we can help you.”

Lloyd started climbing back up the ladder, Umbra following close behind. Lloyd was a bit surprised by how well they managed to climb the ladder, despite their long cloak that seemed like it would get in the way. Lloyd reached the top and helped Umbra onto the bounty. 

“I’ll go get the others,” Lloyd said. “You just wait here.”

Umbra nodded. “Thank you, green ninja.”

Umbra looked around the bounty. The layout seemed simple, something they weren’t expecting for the heroes of Ninjago. They glanced up at the control panel, but refrained from going to investigate further. Eventually, Lloyd came back with the other ninja.

“Uh, who is this exactly?” Jay questioned.

“My name is Umbra,” they introduced. “I am a sorcerer who only wishes to speak to you.”

“Speak to us about what?” Nya asked, somewhat skeptical.

“Well you see, I’ve been doing some research into the serpentine,” Umbra explained. “They really are fascinating. Anyway, I figured talking to the six of you would be helpful to my research, considering you’ve fought against them before.”

“Why not just talk to the serpentine themselves?” Kai questioned.

“Do you really think the serpentine would just let a random person like myself into their village?” Umbra replied. “They can be quite aggressive when it comes to intruders.”

“Alright, so, what kind of questions did you wanna ask us?” Lloyd asked.

“Well, I’ve been looking into the history of the serpentine,” Umbra explained. “I’ve been trying to map out the old territory of the serpentine in order to see if I can study the locations. I wanted to know if you knew of any place that might have been important to them.”

“The City of Ouroboros might be a good place to look,” Cole suggested.

“But that place is completely deserted,” Kai reminded. “The Great Devourer completely destroyed that place.”

“The City of Ouroboros…” Umbra whispered. “Of course! I’m sure I can find some information in the ruins of the city.”

“Are you sure about that?” Nya asked. “It could be dangerous to go there by yourself.”

“I will be fine,” Umbra assured. “I may not be skilled in combat, but my magic should be able to defend myself if I need it.” Umbra thought for a moment. “However, there is one thing I’m quite unsure about. I don’t actually know where the City of Ouroboros is located.”

“Do you have a map with you?” Zane asked.

“Yes,” Umbra replied, pulling out their map. They handed it to Zane who opened it up.

Zane looked at the map for a moment before pointing. “The City of Ouroboros is located here.”

Umbra looked at the spot Zane pointed at and quickly made a mark there. They smiled. “Thank you for your help, ninja.”

“We’re glad to help,” Lloyd replied, returning a smile. 

Umbra quickly waved goodbye before leaving the bounty. The ninja watched them leave, making sure they got back to the ground safely.

“I don’t understand why anyone would want to study the serpentine,” Jay said after Umbra had left. “Last time we met someone with a fascination for snakes didn’t end well.”

“Well Chen was crazy lunatic,” Kai replied. “Umbra didn’t seem crazy. Weird, yes, but crazy, no.”

“I don’t think it’s that strange of a fascination,” Zane argued. “The serpentine played a very important part in Ninjago’s past. There must be a lot of interesting information to uncover about them.”

“Well if we’re done talking to weird people about snakes, then I’m gonna go back to taking a nap,” Jay said. He started to walk away but was stopped as a sudden cloud of orange smoke appeared in front of him.

“Hello, friends!” Asashi greeted as she appeared abruptly.

“AHH!” Jay screamed, falling over.

“Asashi?” Lloyd questioned. “What are you doing here?”

“Is this where you live?” Asashi asked, ignoring the question. “It’s fancy.”

“Asashi,” Lloyd repeated.

“Oh, right,” Asashi remembered. “I wanted to come and visit you guys.”

“Uh, why?” Kai asked.

“Because you were all so nice to me when we met,” Asashi explained. “And because I’m still very lonely in this new realm…”

“Well maybe you should go be lonely somewhere else,” Jay suggested harshly. “You’re a djinn, right? I wish you would leave us alone.”

“AGH!” Asashi yelled in agony, falling to the ground. 

“Asashi, are you ok?” Lloyd asked, rushing over to help her up.

“Jay, what did you do!?” Kai asked.

“Nothing!” Jay defended himself. “I just wished she’d leave us alone!”

“Ack! Please… stop saying that word,” Asashi pleaded.

“What’s wrong with that word?” Cole asked.

Asashi stood up, catching her breath. “Well, Jay seems to understand a djinn’s main ability,” she said. “Djinns are born with the ability to grant wishes to people, but only three for each person. However… when I was very little… I was cursed and became weaker than my fellow djinns. Because of the curse, I can no longer grant wishes to others, and when anyone tries to make a wish, it causes me great pain.”

“I… I didn’t know,” Jay said.

“It is quite alright,” Asashi assured. “I didn’t tell you before. It is my own fault. I just didn’t want to look weak.”

“We wouldn’t have cared,” Nya assured. “It’s not your fault that you were cursed.”

Asashi shook her head. “I was a very rowdy child. It was simply a punishment to get me to stop behaving.”

“That’s terrible!” Cole said. “Why would anyone do that to a child!?”

“Please, no more talking about the past,” Asashi shook her head. Her face quickly lit up again. “I wanted to tell you that I made some more friends. Two of them.”

“Oh really?” Nya asked. “Who are your new friends?”

“One of them is named Umbra,” Asashi explained. “They were very nice to me.”

“Umbra?” Lloyd questioned. “Were they wearing a big robe?”

“Yes!”

“They were just here,” Lloyd informed. “They asked us about serpentine stuff.”

Asashi clapped her hands. “My friends already know each other! Fun!”

“What about your other friend?” Lloyd asked. “Maybe we know them too.”

“I kinda doubt that,” Kai replied.

“I kind of doubt it as well,” Asashi agreed. “He was extremely lonely when I found him.”

“Alright, what’s his name?” Nya asked.

“Oh, his name is Pythor,” Asashi said with a smile.

The ninja all froze, their eyes going wide.

“As in  _ Pythor  _ Pythor?” Jay questioned. “Like, the snake?”

“Jay, what other Pythor’s do we know!?” Kai yelled.

“You know of Pythor too?” Asashi asked, excitedly.

“Asashi, that isn’t a good thing!” Lloyd said. “Pythor is not a friend!”

“What?” Asashi asked. 

“He’s evil!” Kai added. “We’ve fought against him so many times!”

“Actually it was only twice,” Zane corrected.

“Whatever,” Kai replied. “The point still stands. Asashi, you shouldn’t hang out with Pythor.”

“But… he was so nice to me,” Asashi responded. “Actually, that’s a lie. He was very rude. But he was also very lonely.”

“Probably because he’s an evil snake that everybody hates!” Kai yelled.

Asashi turned away for a moment to think. “I believe that there is good inside of everyone,” Asashi said. “Even if it’s only a small amount of goodness.”

Lloyd let out a sigh. “Asashi, we’re just trying to protect you. You seem like a very nice djinn, and Pythor is bad news.”

“I understand your concern,” Asashi replied. “But I am capable of taking care of myself.” Before the ninja could say anything else, Asashi disappeared in a puff of orange smoke. The ninja all went quiet as they watched the smoke clear.

“I told you guys she was evil!” Jay broke the silence.

“How does that prove she’s evil?” Cole asked. “She literally just said that she believes in the good of people!”

“Yeah, but she’s also friends with Pythor!” Jay replied. “And we all know that Pythor is evil!”

“I don’t think she’s actually friends with Pythor,” Lloyd responded. “I think she just thinks Pythor is her friend.”

“Yeah,” Kai agreed. “This is Pythor we’re talking about. Pythor has no friends.”

“Whatever,” Nya interrupted. “If she starts to cause trouble, we’ll be ready for it.”

______________________________________________

It was later in the day. Asashi had made her way back to Pythor’s cave. She waited outside in the distance for a while before finally deciding to go visit the snake again. She entered the cave quietly.

“Hello?” she called as she entered. She didn’t get a response, but instead of leaving, she decided to continue into the cave. As she got deeper, she heard a voice talking.

“You know, Rodrigo, I know you keep saying that the cave looks dull, but I like the dark feeling it gives.”

Asashi looked behind a large rock and saw Pythor, sitting alone with another rock with a smiley face painted on. She watched him quietly as he continued talking to the rock.

“What do you mean I don’t care?” Pythor continued. “Just because you're my third friend that I named Rodrigo means nothing!”

“I didn't know you have multiple friends named Rodrigo,” Asashi made herself known.

“WHAH!” Pythor jumped. He turned around and saw Asashi, instantly glaring at her. “What are you doing back here!?” he hissed.

“I just wanted to see you again,” Asashi smiled. “You seemed lonely but uh…” she gave a confused look at the rock. “I guess I was wrong. I just didn’t know that rocks in this realm were sentient.”

Pythor continued glaring at Asashi, but said nothing.

“So, how long have you been friends with Pythor?” Asashi asked the rock.

“The rock isn’t sentient,” Pythor grumbled.

“Oh,” Asashi responded. “But you were just-”

“I wasn’t doing anything!” Pythor yelled. “If you have no reason to be here, then leave!”

“So I was right,” Asashi said.

“What?”

“You  _ are  _ lonely,” Asashi replied.

“I’m not- UGH! You are so frustrating!” Pythor yelled again.

“Why do you hate friendship?” Asashi questioned. “I’ve been acting kind to you, but you just keep yelling at me.”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because you keep coming into my cave uninvited!” 

“Well, you don’t really have a door,” Asashi replied. “If you don’t want people coming in, you should probably put a door in.”

Pythor scowled at Asashi. “Normally I don’t have to worry about people wandering into my cave.”

“Sorry,” Asashi apologized.

The two of them were quiet for a while. Asashi looked around the cave, although there wasn’t a lot to look at. 

“It is a very nice cave,” Asashi complimented. She looked at Pythor, but the snake still refused to speak. “How did you discover this place?”

“I was trapped here a long time ago when my fellow anacondrai were wrongfully imprisoned,” Pythor explained. “I was trapped here alone after all of the other anacondrai died off.”

“Oh…” Asashi replied. She sat down on the ground. “What happened to them?”

“They were weak,” Pythor said. “They couldn’t bring themselves to do what they needed in order to survive.”

“I… I’m sorry to hear about that,” Asashi responded.

“Don’t be. The anacondrai always said, ‘Only one can remain.’ But I guess none of us knew how true that statement would become.” Pythor went quiet. Asashi was quiet as well, not knowing how to respond.

“We have more in common than I originally thought,” Asashi finally said something.

“We are NOT alike,” Pythor hissed.

Asashi shook his head. “We’re both the last of our species. Not many people get to say that.”

“That means nothing,” Pythor dismissed.

Asashi let out a sigh. “Pythor, tell me,” she said. “Do you like being alone?”

“What kind of question is that?” Pythor asked. “I’ve been alone my entire life! I’m used to this.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” Asashi responded. She stood up. “You don’t have to be alone if you do not want to be.”

“Whatever you say, djinn girl,” Pythor said.

“It’s Asashi.”

“Would you just leave already?”

Asashi paused for a moment. “I’m glad you talked to me,” She smiled. “I know you probably won’t appreciate it, but I’ll be back to visit you.”

Pythor groaned. “I’m guessing there’s no way I can stop you from coming back.”

Asashi let out a giggle. “Goodbye, Pythor,” she waved before walking away.

Pythor watched Asashi leave with narrowed eyes. After the djinn was out of his sight. He looked back at Rodrigo. “What are you looking at!?” he hissed.

Pythor heard footsteps approach and let out another groan. “What are you doing back!?” he yelled. He turned around, but he didn’t see Asashi. Instead, he saw someone else.

“Hello, Pythor,” they greeted. “My name is Umbra.”


	4. Emerging Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ninjago City gets attacked by mysterious shadow snakes and the ninja need to figure out what's going on.

“Why does everyone insist on interrupting my alone time!?” Pythor hissed.

“My apologies, Pythor,” Umbra said, “but I need some help with something and I figured there would be nobody better for the job than you.”

Pythor turned away. “I don’t help others,” he dismissed. “And besides, what would you ever need me for?”

“I cannot tell you my whole plan just yet,” Umbra admitted. “But I can assure you that helping me will be very beneficial to you.”

Pythor looked back at Umbra, a skeptical look on his face. “What do you mean this will be beneficial to me?”

“I know that what you want more than anything else is to destroy the ninja,” Umbra explained, “and if you assist me, I can guarantee you that the ninja WILL fall.”

Pythor blinked. “Well well well, you didn’t tell me you were an enemy of the ninja,” he replied, seeming more interested in this stranger now.

“No, I am not their enemy,” Umbra admitted. “In fact, I just had a friendly conversation with the ninja a couple of hours ago. But I know that once I start putting my plan into action, the ninja will try to stop me.”

Pythor seemed interested, but then he gave Umbra another skeptical look. “And what makes you think that you can succeed where every other villain has failed?”

“There’s a first for everything,” Umbra replied with a smile. “You can take a chance. Help me and help with the downfall of Ninjago, or stay here alone and watch Ninjago fall without you.”

Pythor thought for a moment. “You make a good point,” Pythor admitted. “It  _ has  _ been a while since I’ve attacked Ninjago…” Pythor continued to think before letting out a soft laugh. “Umbra, you’ve got a deal.”

Umbra smiled. “You made the right choice.”

______________________________________________

The two of them decided to wait until the next day to continue with Umbra’s plan. Umbra looked at their map, leading Pythor through the desert.

“Where exactly are we heading?” Pythor asked, trying to look at Umbra’s map over their shoulder.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” Umbra looked up from their map. “Ah, we’re getting closer.”

Pythor looked up and instantly recognized the ruins in the distance. “The City of Ouroboros!?” he yelled. “What are we doing going to a ruined place like that?”

“Patience, Pythor,” Umbra directed. “If my studies are correct, then that means the answers to what I’ve been looking for lie in Ouroboros.”

Pythor rolled his eyes. “The Great Devourer completely destroyed everything in the city,” he explained. “I highly doubt that there’s anything useful left there.”

“You’re so quick to dismiss,” Umbra replied. “If there’s nothing there, so be it. But we can’t just rule it out based on one small factor.”

“I feel like ‘small factor’ is a very big understatement,” Pythor was quiet for a moment. “And if there  _ is  _ something in Ouroboros, the ninja will almost definitely be alerted when we find it and come after us.”

“You make a good point,” Umbra admitted. They put away their map and quickly made a strange gesture with their hands. Suddenly, a purple cloud of smoke appeared in front of the two of them. Umbra reached their arm into the cloud and pulled out a magical staff.

“Did you have that this whole time?” Pythor asked.

“Yes,” Umbra replied. “A staff like this makes much more powerful magic than anything I could do on my own.” Umbra slammed their staff into the ground. Puddles of shadowy goo started to form around both Umbra and Pythor. Pythor watched in concern as the puddles slowly rose out of the ground, forming snake-like creatures. 

“What the?” Pythor questioned.

“Shadow snakes,” Umbra directed, “go to Ninjago City and cause some mayhem. Keep the ninja busy for us.”

The shadowy snakes said nothing and started walking away in the direction of Ninjago City.

“There. That should buy us some time,” Umbra said. They turned and started walking back towards Ouroboros. Pythor watched the snakes for a moment before following Umbra.

______________________________________________

The ninja were continuing to take time to relax on the bounty. Things still seemed quiet until Lloyd entered the room.

“There’s trouble in the city!” he announced.

“Trouble?” Nya questioned. “What kind of trouble?”

“Apparently there’s snakes attacking the city,” Lloyd explained. “Although nobody is able to tell what kind of snakes they are.”

“We’ve fought off snakes plenty of times,” Kai bragged. “This should be no problem.”

The ninja quickly made their way to the city, climbing out of the bounty and instantly seeing the many snakes attacking the city.

“What the?” Jay questioned. “What kind of snakes are these?”

“They don’t look like any kind of serpentine we’ve fought,” Cole agreed.

“Pixal, can you get a reading on these serpentine?” Zane asked, placing a hand to his head. Pixal quickly scanned all of the snakes.

“These snakes are not documented as any serpentine tribe. They seem to be made purely of dark magic.” Pixal informed.

“Pixal says that they are made of dark magic,” Zane repeated.

“Ok, enough discussing what these snakes are made of,” Nya said. “Let’s just fight them already!”

The ninja all ran in, pulling out their weapons and attacking the snakes. It seemed that they disappeared almost instantly after being attacked.

“Woah, this is easier than expected,” Jay commented, smacking a snake away with his nunchucks.

“Stay focussed, Jay,” Lloyd said. “They may seem like easy enemies, but we don’t know what they’re capable of.”

The ninja continued to easily fight off every snake that attacked them, managing to take no hit from them. Eventually, they managed to get rid of every snake in the area. They took some time to catch their breaths until they noticed a police car pull up. The Commissioner stepped out.

“Ninja,” he greeted, “I see you’ve taken care of the snakes around this area.”

“Commissioner,” Lloyd greeted back, “do you know where these snakes came from?”

“No idea,” the Commissioner replied. “They just appeared out of nowhere and started to attack the city! But rest assured that we’re trying to figure out what these snakes want.”

“There’s more of them?” Kai questioned.

“More of them?” the Commissioner replied. “They’re all over the city!”

“All over the city!?” Jay yelled. “This’ll take forever to deal with!”

“Then we’d better get a move on,” Lloyd said. “C’mon guys!”

The ninja all ran further into the city in order to fight off more of the shadowy snakes.

______________________________________________

Umbra and Pythor reached the City of Ouroboros. Immediately, they were surrounded by the rubble of the fallen city. Pythor looked down the massive hole that used to hold the Great Devourer.

“I told you there was nothing here,” he said.

“We just got here,” Umbra replied. “I’m sure there’s still more to uncover.” Umbra pushed a large rock out of the way and saw a strange symbol of the ground. “Let’s see here…” They leaned down and pressed their hand on the symbol. They looked over at Pythor. “Pythor, could you come here for a moment?”

Pythor looked over and slithered over. “What is it?” he asked.

Umbra pointed to the symbol on the ground. “Could you press your hand here?”

“What?” Pythor questioned. “I’ve never seen this before.” He leaned down and gently pressed his hand onto the symbol. Suddenly, the entire ground began to shake. Pythor jumped back, moving away from the strange symbol. “What happened!?”

Umbra looked and saw as part of the ground began to fall away, revealing a staircase deeper into the depths of the city. The ground finally stopped shaking and Umbra smiled, beginning to walk down the stairs.

“Where are you going!?” Pythor hissed. But Umbra didn’t respond. Pythor let out a grunt and slithered down the stairs after them. He looked around at the darkness around the two of them, confused by how Umbra seemed unphased by all of this.

“I knew the Great Devourer lived underneath this city,” he commented, “but I had no idea there was anything else down here.”

Umbra let out a laugh. “The Great Devourer?” they questioned. “The Great Devourer is nothing compared to the king of the snakes.”

Pythor blinked, letting a smug smile appear on his face. “Oh, you flatter me.”

Umbra let out another laugh. “What are you talking about?” they asked. “I’m not talking about  _ you,  _ I’m talking about the TRUE king of the snakes.” They paused for a moment. “Venore.”

“Venore?” Pythor questioned. “I’ve never heard of anyone named Venore.”

“I’m not surprised,” Umbra said. “Venore has been almost completely wiped from the serpentine’s history. But he was real.” Umbra pulled out a scroll. “This scroll was written by the First Spinjitzu Master and was restored after many years of being lost.” They opened up the scroll that showed a drawing of a blue serpentine with pink and purple markings on his body. “He was defeated by the First Spinjitzu Master and his castle was sealed away. But with his help, we cannot be stopped by anyone, not even the ninja.”

Pythor looked at the scroll with a confused look. Before he could ask anymore questions, they reached the bottom of the staircase. Umbra put the scroll away and walked over to the wall. The same symbol from before was also seen on this wall. Umbra pointed their staff and shot a tiny magic ball at it. Pythor looked at the symbol in confusion and suddenly the ground began to shake again. The ground began to rise up, through the sand above. Pythor looked around in a panic as a strange structure started to form around them.

“What is this!?” Pythor yelled.

Umbra let out another laugh. The structure finished forming itself and the ground calmed once more. “This is Venore’s castle.”

“What?” Pythor looked around. 

Umbra walked over to the other side of the room. They looked at the large throne sitting against the wall. They turned back towards Pythor. “I believe this is for you.”

Pythor looked at the throne and grinned. “Well now.” He slithered over to sit on the throne. “This is quite the improvement.”

______________________________________________

The ninja finished fighting off more of the shadow snakes in another part of the city.

“Is that all of them here?” Nya asked.

“Looks like it,” Lloyd replied. “But there’s still more-” Lloyd was cut off when he heard his communicator go off. He pulled it out and answered it.

“Hello? Commissioner?” he said.

“Ninja, I know you’re all still probably fighting off those snake creatures,” the Commissioner responded, “but we’ve just gotten reports of a castle appearing out of nowhere!”

“A castle?” Lloyd questioned. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not quite sure yet, but it appeared in the City of Ouroboros,” the Commissioner said. “We were hoping you could go investigate. We can take care of the snakes here.”

“We’re on it,” Lloyd agreed. He turned to the others. “We gotta get to the bounty and head for Ouroboros.”

“Why?” Jay questioned. “What’s at Ouroboros?”

“The Commissioner said that a castle appeared there and we need to go look at it,” Lloyd explained. 

“Well then, we’d better hurry,” Kai agreed. “I have a feeling this random castle appearing as something to do with these shadow snakes.”

The ninja nodded before running off towards the bounty.

______________________________________________

Pythor looked around the room while continuing to sit on the throne. Umbra stood to the side, their staff in hand. They looked like they were conjuring up a spell, but it was hard to tell what exactly they were doing. Pythor glanced over at the sorcerer.

“So, when does this Venore of yours show up?” he asked.

“He’ll show up,” Umbra insisted. “We just need to give him some time.”

Pythor opened up his mouth to respond, but stopped as Umbra created a mirror-like spell. The spell showed the ninja arriving at the castle.

“I knew they would probably show up,” Umbra said.

“The ninja!” Pythor hissed. “There here to ruin my plans again!”

“They won’t be able to do much,” Umbra insisted. They waved their hand and more shadowy puddles formed on the ground, slowly forming into shadow snakes. Umbra pointed to the entrance of the throne room and the shadow snakes instantly left the room.

The ninja climbed the castle. There were surprisingly a lot of stairs and not as many rooms and you’d expect a castle to have.

“Are we sure this is a castle and not a tower?” Jay asked.

“It doesn’t matter what it is!” Kai argued. “Whatever it is, it wasn’t here before so- WOAH!”

The ninja stopped as a group of shadow snakes blocked their path.

“I’m guessing this place  _ does  _ have something to do with those snakes in the city,” Cole commented.

“Alright guys, you know what to do,” Lloyd instructed.

The ninja all pulled out their weapons and easily fought off the shadow snakes, continuing their climb up the staircase. Eventually, they defeated some more shadow snakes and reached the top of the staircase and entered a hallway. They ran to the large doors at the end and kicked them open.

“You won’t get away with-” Lloyd stopped. 

“Well if it isn’t the ninja,” Pythor greeted.

“Wait a minute, Pythor!?” Lloyd questioned. He looked over at Umbra. “And you!?”

“Hello, ninja,” Umbra greeted.

“What are you doing here, I thought you were researching the serpentine?” Nya questioned.

“No, I already know all that I need to,” Umbra explained. “I just needed someone trustworthy to let me know where Ouroboros was.”

“We’ve been tricked!” Jay yelled.

“Don’t focus on that,” Lloyd replied. “Instead, focus on fighting.”

“Umbra! More shadow snakes!” Pythor hissed.

Umbra nodded and quickly created an army of shadow snakes. The ninja were taken off guard by the sheer number of snakes, but did their best to fight them off. At first, it looked like they were winning the fight, but they quickly became overwhelmed.

Pythor let out a laugh as he watched the ninja struggle. “Looks like the great ninja aren’t strong enough to defeat my new army.”

“What do we do?” Nya asked. “There’s too many of them!”

“If we keep fighting, we’ll eventually be too worn out to continue!” Zane said.

Lloyd used his sword to slash a couple of shadow snakes and looked over as three more began to get closer. He glanced at his teammates who were all struggling. “We need to retreat!” he ordered.

Pythor laughed again as the ninja quickly started to flee. Once the room was clear of any ninja, the shadow snakes disappeared. 

“What cowards, running from battle when they’ve saved Ninjago countless times!” Pythor mocked.

Suddenly, the castle began to shake. Pythor looked around in a panic, believing the castle was about to collapse. He looked over at Umbra, but the sorcerer seemed calm.

“Umbra, what’s going on!?”

Umbra gestured towards their staff. A massive amount of magic was flying from the staff. The magic flew up towards the ceiling of the room before crashing onto the floor. The entire room turned a purple tint as what looked like a portal began to form. Pythor watched with a mixture of confusion and slight fear while Umbra simply smiled.

A shadowy mass shot out from the ground and the room returned to normal. The shadow morphed into the shape of a serpentine, somewhat resembling a hypnobrai.

“What in- ACK!” Pythor was interrupted as Umbra zapped him with a spell, causing the anacondrai to become unconscious. Umbra then looked up at the shadow and smiled again.

“It worked!” they said. “Venore, you’re back!”

“So, you’re the one who summoned me?” the shadow questioned. 

Umbra nodded. “And I brought you a host to use until you regain your strength.”

Venore let out a booming laugh. “You clearly put a lot of effort into this plan of yours.”

Venore flew towards Pythor’s body. Pythor squirmed as his scales began to change from white and purple to a royal blue and vibrant pink. He opened his eyes, which had turned from red to purple. He laughed.

“I never thought I would get see Ninjago again,” Venore’s voice spoke from Pythor’s body.

“Well now you can finally achieve what the First Spinjitzu Master prevented you from doing,” Umbra replied.

“Yes,” Venore agreed. “It’s time that Ninjago witnesses my true power!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the start of this fic has been kinda slow but hopefully things will start to pick up after this. Although I don't know when I'm gonna write the next chapter... it will probably be a while so don't be surprised if it takes a while for me to write it. Motivation can be hard to find sometimes, especially recently for me. Anyway, there are parts of this fic that I'm really looking forward ti writing so that'll be fun


End file.
